What on earth were they thinking?!!
David Lawver
Glenn Close/Harry Connick, Jr South Pacific. For whatever reason, I
hadn't yet gotten around to watching it until tonight when, for whatever
reason, I popped it in the DVD player..... and all I can say is......
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???!!!
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Lawver la...@charter.net
"Without danger, Mr. Bardolph, there is no theatre." -Peter Shaffer
Steve Newport
Glenn Close/Harry Connick, Jr South Pacific. For whatever reason, I
hadn't yet gotten around to watching it until tonight when, for whatever
reason, I popped it in the DVD player..... and all I can say is......
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???!!!
--------------------------------------
teleplay.
fmomoon
"David Lawver" <la...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:vYOdnU8LHtRwkbrW...@supernews.com...
Yup. Bad stuff....
--
Moni
"Who told you that you should be able to walk on water? You're human, get
used to it."
My mom
David Lawver
That *offensivie* Bloody Mary! Who can't sing!!
An Emile who sings like a mediocre cabaret crooner...
Connick in his worst pseudo-Sinatra mode.
Schlockey, schmalzy orchestrations that must have had Robert Russell
Bennett spinning.
And yes... a book that boggles the imagination... scrambled order,
weird politically correct dialogue, and obligatory breakdown scene
for Close... and worst of all.... Cable getting a beating instead of
contracting malaria????!!!!
Harlett O'Dowd
> And yes... a book that boggles the imagination... scrambled order,
> weird politically correct dialogue, and obligatory breakdown scene
> for Close... and worst of all.... Cable getting a beating instead of
> contracting malaria????!!!!
Oh, any chance to see Conick take a beating is entertainment in my
book.
Getting to see him get blown up was perhaps the single best thing
about this production.
Which says a lot about the quality of this production.
Steve Newport
Connick in his worst pseudo-Sinatra mode....and worst of all.... Cable
getting a beating instead of contracting malaria????!!!!
----------------------------------
Back Home appears on the CD soundtrack.) As I recall, there are only
three songs in the last hour of the film. (Shades of the FIDDLER film.)
Steve Newport
see Connick take a beating is entertainment in my book.
--------------------------------
Based on the recording I didn't mind him playing Sid Sorokin as Sinatra.
Joan in GB-W
I didn't see it, but isn't Close a little "long in the tooth" for the part
of Nellie?
Joan
Robert Bouton
> I didn't see it, but isn't Close a little "long in the tooth" for the part
> of Nellie?
I'll say she was. The telefilm aired the same month Close turned 54,
more than double Mitzi Gaynor's age when she did the movie. (Mary
Martin, the Broadway original, was 35.) I don't recall much about the
idiot-box version, but I certainly had trouble believing Close as a
naive nurse, simply due to her age. On the other hand, I've been
meaning to revisit this version, as I had the pleasure of working with
one of the other lead performers last month.
Steve Newport
I didn't see it, but isn't Glenn Close a little "long in the tooth" for
the part of Nellie?
------------------------------------
That was the least of its problems.
Badger
I was thinking if they were going to go with an older Nellie, why not
update it and have Emile be the one who's much younger? And instead
of him having biracial children, maybe he could be the one who's
biracial. The kids in the show could be his brother and sister or
something.
And you know, when I see SOUTH PACIFIC, I want to see hunky
barechested sailors singing "There is Nothing like a Dame", not a
bunch of typists!
David Lawver
I saw him do Pajama Game live, and it wasn't all that Sinatra-y onstage.
I really liked that production.
David Lawver
Strangely... while you are right, that was easier to lay aside than
the many other issues.
Steve Newport
that was easier to lay aside than the many other issues.
-------------------------------------
Jean Coeur de Lapin
I never even heard of this monstrosity till this instant, reading this
thread!
I finally got to the Beaumont SP last Thursday. O'Hara and Szot are
back in it; the Bloody Mary was the cover, and she sang her guts out,
as understudies do in a long run when they get a chance to. The Cable
was cute and Danny Burstein is a hero of mine. So I had a very good
time. I also enjoyed the one at Carnegie with Reba McIntyre and Brian
Stokes Mitchell. And I did attend the original run, but it was hard to
hear it clearly through the walls of my mother's womb. Don't remember
Mary Martin at all. Ezio Pinza, though -- he really set the amniotic
fluid jumping! WHATWAZZAT! was my remark at the time. (Nobody there to
answer of course.)
I enjoyed Harry and Kelli in Pajama Game, FWIW. Wish they hadn't
rewritten the book.
Jean Coeur de Lapin
Steve Newport
in it; the Bloody Mary was the cover, and she sang her guts out, as
and Kelli in Pajama Game, FWIW. Wish they hadn't rewritten the book.
I liked some of the added numbers. Nice to see Michael McKean is back on
Broadway in SUPERIOR DONUTS. Can't wait to read it.
David Levy
> From: atsarisb...@gmail.com
Speaking of revivals, both Ragtime and Finian's Rainbow have posted
closing notices. Having seen Finian's, I'm not surprised. I sort of
wanted to see Ragtime in this incarnation, but not enough to plan a
trip in the next couple of weeks.
Harlett O'Dowd
> Speaking of revivals, both Ragtime and Finian's Rainbow have posted
> closing notices. Having seen Finian's, I'm not surprised. I sort of
> wanted to see Ragtime in this incarnation, but not enough to plan a
> trip in the next couple of weeks.
I wanted to see both - but chose RAGTIME (well, momma chose RAGTIME.)
Overall, it is very very very very good and is worth catching. I
missed Audra and didn't think the staging of the opening number was as
strong as the original, but just about everything else worked better
this time around.
I still think "Make them Hear You" needs to be cut. As Mikey used to
say, it's needless.
Steve Newport
"Make them Hear You" needs to be cut.
And I still like Younger Brother and "He Wanted to Say."
Steve Newport
Rainbow have posted closing notices.
I hope Kate Baldwin still makes the Tony cut. Just for her recent
Harburg-Lane CD alone!
fmomoon
"Steve Newport" <birdp...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:15063-4B3...@storefull-3171.bay.webtv.net...
I do, too, but mostly because of Emma Goldman in the song. :)
Steve Newport
and "He Wanted to Say" in RAGTIME.
I do, too, but mostly because of Emma Goldman in the song. :)
SN: Judy Kaye sure made the most of that role.
fmomoon
Yup. Now *that* is a role I want to play! :)
David Lawver
>
> "Steve Newport" <birdp...@webtv.net> wrote in message
> news:4071-4B3...@storefull-3172.bay.webtv.net...
>> From: fmo...@comcast.net (fmomoon) <<<SN: I still like Younger Brother
>> and "He Wanted to Say" in RAGTIME.
>> ------------ I do, too, but mostly because of Emma Goldman in the
>> song. :)
>> --------------
>> SN: Judy Kaye sure made the most of that role.
>>
>
> Yup. Now *that* is a role I want to play! :)
Now THAT I would travel far to see!!!!
fmomoon
> On 1/2/2010 12:16 AM, fmomoon wrote:
>>
>> "Steve Newport" <birdp...@webtv.net> wrote in message
>> news:4071-4B3...@storefull-3172.bay.webtv.net...
>>> From: fmo...@comcast.net (fmomoon) <<<SN: I still like Younger Brother
>>> and "He Wanted to Say" in RAGTIME.
>>> ------------ I do, too, but mostly because of Emma Goldman in the
>>> song. :)
>>> --------------
>>> SN: Judy Kaye sure made the most of that role.
>>>
>>
>> Yup. Now *that* is a role I want to play! :)
>
> Now THAT I would travel far to see!!!!
I'll hold you to that, David, if ever I actually get cast. :)
Steve Newport
revivals, both Ragtime and Finian's Rainbow have posted closing
notices>>>
I wanted to see both - but chose RAGTIME (well, momma chose RAGTIME.)
Overall, it is very very very very good and is worth catching. I missed
Audra and didn't think the staging of the opening number was as strong
as the original, but just about everything else worked better this time
around.
Is it still so relentlessly underscored?
Harlett O'Dowd
> From: chris.conne...@worldspan.com (Harlett O'Dowd) <<<Speaking of
I don't recall a difference in underscoring - but then that rarely
bothers me.
Steve Newport
relentlessly underscored?>>>
---------------------------------------
bothers me.
It's what bothered me most about the Broadway original.
David Levy
> From: chris.conne...@worldspan.com <<<RAGTIME: Is it still so
Does that bother you with Show Boat as well? (I'm genuinely curious -
I've never seen Show Boat on stage.)
Steve Newport
relentlessly underscored? It's what bothered me most about the Broadway
original.>>>
---------------------------------------
I've never seen Show Boat on stage.)
SHOW BOAT doesn't come close to RAGTIME in terms of underscoring.
The KISMET film also suffers greatly from too much.
David Levy
> SHOW BOAT doesn't come close to RAGTIME in terms of underscoring.
> The KISMET film also suffers greatly from too much.
Really? My sense of Show Boat (at least in its original form, as
documented in the McGlinn recording) is that it's almost entirely
underscored.
Harlett O'Dowd
Generally - the comic scenes (the play-within-a-play) in SHOW BOAT are
*not* underscored and the more serious/romantic scenes are. As McGlinn
chose not to record the scenes without significant underscoring (IIRC,
three scenes in the first act, four in the second) his recording gives
the impression that the original show was more through-composed than
it really was.
RAGTIME, having few truly comic book scenes, has music flowing in and
out of it throughout the evening.
That said, I still find Mr. Newport's comment to be odd. How anyone
can love, say, SHE LOVES ME and THE MOST HAPPY FELLA as well as SHOW
BOAT and find RAGTIME's use of music to be excessive is beyond me. I
certainly have some issues with RAGTIME, but underscoring is nowhere
on my list.
Steve Newport
love, say, SHE LOVES ME and THE MOST HAPPY FELLA as well as SHOW BOAT
and find RAGTIME's use of music to be excessive
I bet even MOST HAPPY FELLA has more actual scenes than RAGTIME. I have
some problems with MHF. I think the character of sister Marie is
needless (BFS) and there are a few too many musical numbers. Joey should
probably disappear after Act One.
I kinda hate "Wheels of a Dream" in RAGTIME. It's the first place I lose
interest-- and where the rest of the audience wakes up.
David Levy
> I kinda hate "Wheels of a Dream" in RAGTIME. It's the first place I lose
> interest-- and where the rest of the audience wakes up.
In the original production, it felt like a commercial break sponsored
by Ford.
Harlett O'Dowd
Wow.
Marie is a thankless role but extremely necessary. for starters, she
is the embodiment of the concern over the May-September love between
Tony and Rosabella. Without her, the "what will people think? I'ma too
old for you." concerns of Tony will not carry the same dramatic
weight.
Ditto Joe. If he has already left, Tony's fear that Rosabella has left
him FOR Tony also loses its dramatic intensity.
I recently got to see the Tozzi/Muenz video and was surprised by how
little Joe has to do in the last two acts - but his presence is still
keenly felt throughout. And by him lagging behind, you get the idea
that he might protest too much and that if he had a reason to stay,
his wanderlust would lessen. Which brings us back to possibility that
Joe and Rosabella might have gone off together if Joe was ever fully
aware of the situation.
Re "Wheels of a Dream" - that's another moment I finally "got" in the
recent revival. It's about the Great Migration. It's the fact that
Coalhouse is mobile is what causes scandal in New Rochelle and
threatens Willie Conklin and the rest of the whites (and immigrants,)
thus setting up the tragedy which follows. We still have a
segregationist mindset today - from a reluctance to fund mass transit
(especially in the South) to the fact that churches are becoming more
segregated than they were 10-20 years ago (blacks, latinos and whites
are all gravitating to church communities that cater to the sort of
community tow hich they wish to belong.) That's not to say RAGTIME
isn't power-anthem heavy, because it is. But the conceit of "Wheels of
a Dream" is very clever and it works. It's also the "happy moment"
before everything turns to sh*t.
Steve Newport
of a Dream" in RAGTIME. It's the first place I lose interest-- and where
the rest of the audience wakes up.>>>
Ford.
SN: It sounds like a commercial.